The
Port Orange Police Department has already implemented changes to reduce their
operating budget by $228,364 since the budget was adopted by the City Council
in September.The implemented those
changes on October 1.That included
laying off individuals (three part time Community Service Officers) within the
Port Orange Police Department as well as leaving positions unfilled.There are two full time officers whose
military units are deployed.

In
fiscal year 2008, the Department had 113 full time equivalent positions
filled.The City Council increased it by
one position in 2009.The City Council
added one custodian position in anticipation of moving to the new Police
Headquarters.In the fiscal year that
just ended, the number of positions authorized was 110.That number has been further reduced to
104.58 in this fiscal year.The number
of positions actually filled has varied from 102.93 in the fiscal year that
ended September 30, 2008 to our current level of 97.5 full time
equivalents.

In
2008, the City spent 28.7% of its General Fund budget on Police Services.With the recently adopted budget, the City spends
38.4% of its General Fund budget on Police Services.In 2008, the City spent 49.1% of its General
Fund budget on Public Safety services.In 2011, the adopted budgeted allocated 63.6% to the Public Safety
sector.

When
you examine the component segments of the City’s budget, you quickly see that
the growth has been in the retirement expenses sector of the budget.Over the past four fiscal years, this segment
of the budget has increased by $813,715.Personnel expenses are 78% of the total Police Department budget.

The
salary portion of the Police budget increased from $5,165,565 in FY2008 to $5,320,331
in FY2011.The retirement segment
increased from $1,843,062 in 2008 to $2,610,340 for the fiscal year 2011, a 41.6%
increase.Today the retirement
expenditure accounts for 22.8% of the total Police Department budget.In 2008, it consumed 16.9% of the Police
Department budget.In 2008, the City’s
contribution to the Police Pension Fund was 5.6% of the total General Fund
budget.In the recently adopted budget,
the contribution level has increased to 8.8% of the total General Fund
budget.

In
FY2008, staff reported to the City Council two items of concern related to Police
Pensions.First, the staff reported to
the City Council our concern that pensions contribution levels were
non-sustainable in light of the reduced revenues.Second, we reported to the City Council that
the unfunded accrued liability was non-sustainable.As early as 2005, Actuarial Concepts was reporting
to the Police Pension Board of Trustees the following:

“The
Plan’s projected liability funded status has remained in the low to mid 50%
range over the past two years.This
level is lower than expected levels and should be monitored for further
deterioration.If Plan assumptions are
realized, funded position should resume progressing to more acceptable levels;
if not, assumptions may need to be adjusted to reflect this trend and City
contribution requirements would necessarily increase.”

The
City Manager met with the Police Pension Board.The City asked that early negotiations begin on the pension contract
article.To open an article prior to the
expiration of the contract requires both parties to agree.Since both did not agree on opening the
contract early, then both parties had to wait until 2009 for the contract
articles to be opened.The City provided
notice to the PBA on November 19, 2008 and again on March 6 and March 24, 2009
of our readiness to begin negotiations on a successor agreement.The contract had an expiration date of
September 30, 2009.Since that time, the
City of Port Orange has been actively involved with the Police Union attempting
to reach agreement.

As
the City Council is aware, there are two components to the City’s contribution,
the normal cost and the accrued actuarial liability cost.The Unfunded Accrued Actuarial Liability can
be best described as a variable rate mortgage where the principle and interest
continue to increase.Each year that
the assumptions are not met, the liability increases and therefore the required
payment increases.It has been reported
that the Plan has not met its actuarial assumptions eight out of the past ten
years.

The
Plan actuary uses a common technique called smoothing.It attempts to take the peaks and valleys out
of the amortization schedule and make the payments more level.The smoothing technique may have masked the
actual amount that the City should be making.

Early
on, staff identified four factors necessary to reverse the trend of the
Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liability increasing.It will require all of the techniques in
order to reverse the trend and have a meaningful impact on reducing the
Liability.The four factors are:

Increase
in City Contributions.

Increase
in Employee Contributions.

Reduction
in Benefits.Although you can
achieve long term savings by limiting changes in benefits to new
employees, in order to achieve sustainable savings, it must include
existing employees.

Plan
meeting its Actuarial Assumptions, including its investment rate of
return.

This
memorandum will not address the options under discussion with the Union since
Pensions are subject to collective bargaining in Florida.We are currently engaged in collective
bargaining related to Pensions.Since
the Plan Actuary brought the Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liability to the City’s
attention in 2008, we have been engaged in a process of attempting to reverse
the trend and control the cost of pensions. Port Orange is not unique.In fact, most cities who have local plans are
dealing with the same issue, an increase in their Unfunded Actuarial Accrued
Liability.

Levels of Service
Discussions

Let’s
examine what has already been done by the Port Orange Police Department to
reduce the existing General Fund appropriation.

Budget Reservations-
Level 1

One full time custodian position
left unfilled. (The former occupant moved to Public Works)

Full time CSO position will be
left vacant.(The individual who
previously filled the position moved to the City Clerk’s Office)

Full time Sergeant Position will
be left vacant during military deployment.

The
projected reservation is $100,259.

We
can expect the following:

Reduced
cleaning at the Police Headquarters Building with only one custodian
position. It may require the Police
Department calling Public Works for assistance when their custodian is on
vacation or out sick.

Reduced
operational hours at the Police Headquarters.Prior to October 1, 2010, the headquarters
was opened from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and on
weekends it was opened from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.The lobby area will be opened only
Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

While
the Training Sergeant is away on military duty, an officer from Platoon 1
will cover the training requirements.

Budget Reservations-
Level 2

2 Weekend Community Service
Officers have already been let go on October 1, 2010.

Part time Community Service
Officer who did background investigations and coordinated outside details
has been laid off.

Part time Reserve Officer
Position is unfilled.It will be
left unfilled.

Full time Police Officer is on
military deployment for 16 months.

The
projected reservation at this level is $128,105.

We
can expect the following:

Front
lobby and records will be closed on weekends.If a person needs assistance, they will
call dispatch and an officer will be dispatched to assist.

Background
investigations will be assigned to a Detective.

Outside
details/billing assigned to the Accreditation Manager and Administrative
Assistant.

Leaves
two part-time Police Reserve Officers to handle the desk Monday through Thursday.

Military
deployment leaves 2nd Platoon short one Full time Officer.

Budget
Reservation Level 1 and Level 2 have been implemented.We will be bringing these forward in a budget
reservation.

Budget Reservation-
Level 3

Full time Police Athletic League
Director

Full time Crime Prevention
Officer

Full time Accreditation Manager

The
projected savings at this level is $101,831.

We
can expect the following:

PAL
can sustain itself for an estimated two years.Eventually, the program would revert to
volunteers unless a sustainable income stream can be identified.Most likely the program would be
terminated.

Termination
of the Crime Prevention Program.

Difficult
to retain both State and National Accreditation.Most likely will not receive National
Accreditation during the next review cycle.Very difficult to maintain State
Accreditation as well.

Budget Reservation-
Level 4

Two
part-time Victim Advocates

Two
part-time Police Officers at the lobby/front desk

Full
time Victim Advocate

The
projected savings at this level is $96,679.

We
can expect the following:

Reduction
in staffing for the Victim’s Right Advocate Program.We would lose a portion of the VOCA
grant.Also, there would be less
people available to call out to assist Police Officers with a variety of
tasks.

No
sworn officers at the front desk resulting in patrol zone officers coming
out of assigned zones to handle walk in calls/complaints/reports.

Termination
of the Victim Advocate Program and loss of the VOCA grant in the amount of
$53,633.

These
items were discussed in detail during the Chief’s presentation to City Council
in both May and July.

When
we presented a comparison of City costs to Sheriff’s costs, we provided the
City Council with an organizational alignment that matched up with the Sheriff proposal.You have that material.It would restructure the organizational
alignment within the Department.There
would be only one Lieutenant, not the five we now have.The Detective Bureau would be restructured in
terms of its organization.The CSO’s
would be changed.The number of officers
assigned school zones would be different.Included is the comparative data.A few days ago, you were provided a memorandum from Chief Monahan
related to organizational issues and why the City benefits by having a shift
manager on duty for each of the patrol shifts.From his standpoint, it is about accountability.

Statistical Data

Organizationally,
Port Orange has 1.4 Officers per thousand population.That is lower than the national and state
average.This compares with:

City Officers per 1,000
populationCrime Rate per 100,000

Ormond
Beach1.73,191.1

Holly
Hill2.55,517.1

Daytona
Beach3.78,693.7

South
Daytona2.13,725.1

New
Smyrna Beach2.24,413.8

Edgewater1.43,042.9

Deland2.35,891.7

Orange
City 2.69,536.4

Deltona0.823,229.2

Port
Orange’s Crime Rate continues to be among the lowest in the area.Port Orange’s Crime Rate is 2,441.3 per
100,000 residents.

Port
Orange Detectives clearance rate is 83%.

Port
Orange’s expenditure per capita for Police Services in Fiscal year 2009 was $203.This compares with:

City Expenditures
per Capita

Ormond
Beach$
176

Holly
Hill$
182

Daytona
Beach$ 518

South
Daytona$
226

New
Smyrna Beach$
251

Edgewater$ 147

Deland$
254

Orange
City $
208

Deltona$
105

(These
are unadjusted budget numbers.This is
what is appropriated in their General Fund.)

Port
Orange places 78% of its total sworn officers on patrol; 14% in the Detective
Bureau; and 8% in Administrative positions.The national average is 68% on patrol.

Port
Orange Police Department is an excellent Department.In 2010, the Police Department was recognized
as a Flagship Agency when the Department was reaccredited.That is something to be extremely pleased
about.This speaks highly of our
officers and their commitment to excellent law enforcement in Port Orange.Our Officers have excellent reputations
within the law enforcement community.That leadership starts at the top of the organization and permeates
throughout the organization.

Within
a relatively short period of time, we will see a major transformation in our
Department.Currently, there are 11 people
in DROP.The first individual to
complete his DROP program will be Frank Surmaczewicz.His retirement (DROP) date is June 1, 2012. The last in this group of DROP participants
will complete their DROP program in June 1, 2015. The City has one Captain in
DROP, five Lieutenants in DROP; one sergeant in DROP; and four Patrol Officers
in DROP.Currently, we have four
individuals who are not in DROP, but are qualified to enter DROP, to include
the Police Chief and Assistant Police Chief.The reason that I point this out to the City Council is that the
Department will look radically different in the next five years in terms of the
Departmental Leadership Team.

The
City of Port Orange is fortunate to have an excellent Volunteers in Police
Service program.Annually, these individuals
give to the City of Port Orange over 20,000 volunteer hours.They provide a variety of services to the
community such as handling the boat ramp on weekends and holidays.They provide valuable assistance to our
Police Department in a variety of ways.They assist our other Departments with special events.Over the past several years, we have seen a
decline in the numbers of volunteers.Many have retired from service.Others have died.Still others
have simply left.The core group is very
dedicated to serving our community.Like
all volunteer groups, we must focus on recruiting new individuals, not just any
individual, but individuals who fully understand that they are not Police
Officers or Auxiliary Police Officers or Reserve Police Officers.Our volunteers do a variety of jobs within
the Department.This is a group that we
need to encourage, promote and support.I am encouraging Chief Monahan to contact individuals who have graduated
from our Citizen Police Academy to let them know that we are accepting
volunteer applications.There may be
some in the group that would like to be part of the VIP group.Because of recent vacancies within the group,
we do need to recruit additional volunteers.They provide so much to the Department.Operating a volunteer program requires constant work to keep membership
active and motivated.It requires
looking at new ways to engage volunteers.It requires a commitment from top down in order to make it work.The Port Orange Volunteer Program was the very
first of its kind in Volusia County.Soon after I arrived, I was asked to send our volunteers to cities
throughout the area to help them start programs.We even advised the Sheriff’s Department on
how to start the program.This is an
excellent program.

The
Port Orange PAL program provides a valuable service to the youth in Port
Orange.The PAL program is currently
housed in the Port Orange gym.Parks and
Recreation and the PAL Director work extremely well together to complement each
other rather than duplicate.That makes
for a good working relationship.

Our
Victim Advocate Program is recognized as one of the best in the area.The program has been recognized on numerous
occasions by the 7th Circuit Court District for it efforts.Not only has our paid staff been recognized
but so have our volunteers who work out of the Victim’s Right Advocate’s
Office.